self employed nanny............

[dipsymummy]

Have been looking for someone who can provide adhoc childcare once/twice a week and have seen
a couple of nannies advertising as being self employed .
i'm sure I had read on here some time back that nannies could only be employed.
have things changed?
Hope so as really struggling with childcare as don't know what days I'm working from one day to the next!

Self employed nanny sounds a bit like a freelance childminder - confusing!
Where are you and what ages do you have?

Twickenham and my little ones are 2 and 3

Don't think you'll find any nannies operating on a legitimate self employed basis. A childminder will cost you about £12/hour in twickenham.

Do you know anyone who already employs a nanny who would be willing to share them on an ad hoc basis? That would probably work out cheaper then a childminder.

Nannies can only be self-employed if they are working as maternity/night or continuously temporary nanny.

SE nannies working on a perm basis are acting illegally and you as the employer could be fined.

I am a self employed nanny

I only work part time, temp jobs.

this is me

From your website it seems that you don't do perm work though?

Even 1 or 2 days a week every week, even if differeny days, is construed as regular arrangement. And you can't work continuously for more than one family for more than 6 months or when you do your tax return they'll notice that you should have been employed.

I will only work a max of 2 months for a family or will do very ad hoc for them ie a couple of days a month.

If I worked permanently as a nanny, I wouldn't be able to be a birth doula and that is something that I really want to do - hence the reason I only do part time / ad hoc work.

This way I not only get to choose my working days and hours, I can do exactly what I want, when I want!

Some weeks I may be on call as a doula, the next it may be as a night nanny!

I like working for different people and in different settings too.

But if i were doing set days and hours for one or two families, then yes I would be employed by them and they would be responsible for my tax and NI.

Phraedd
Out of interest, where are you based? I sometimes need the odd day.

I live in St Albans, Herts.

I tend to get quite booked up though - which is great for me but not so good for families needing childcare!

I've also read many times that nannies can't be s/e for the reasons already explained. I spoke to a nanny agency today about a very part-time job and when I asked about the pay she said it would depend on whether I wanted to do it as s/e or as an employee. I'm not sure whether that was her tactful way of suggesting cash in hand. Anyway, the gross amount she quoted wouldn't really cover the bus fare so will keep searching!

I've had HMRC agree that some adhoc arrangements are not subject to PAYE, in particular where the nanny is not obliged to work the hours requested (ie so I could ask for certain hours, but nanny may say that she couldn't do them that week). IME it is helpful if a)the nanny in question already has been filing returns on a self-employed basis as HMRC are then comfortable that they are still getting the tax, and b) if the amounts are less than £100 per week, so there is no NI. But even if they do go above £100 occasionally, they can be pragmatic.

a self employed nanny has to pay her NI regardless of how much she is earning though.

At £2.20 a week it hardly breaks the bank

That's class 2. She may also need to pay class 4 contributions which are higher.

But the potential loss to the Exchequer is that the the parents doesn't pay employer's NI. Hence HMRC are relaxed below £100 as there wouldn't be any employer's NI anywy.

Hello Dipsymommy, i am a registered childminder in twickenham and i only charge £6 an hour, £12 sounds very expensive. Are you still looking for childcare because i have two openings if you interested

Hi Dipsy
My nanny is available and flexible. She works 1 and a half days for me but I have had to give up work recently so she is available this week onwards. She looks after another family in St Margarets three days a week but that's flexible.

Interested?